


Through a Glass Darkly

by Girl_chama



Category: The Order: 1886
Genre: Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-03
Updated: 2015-05-03
Packaged: 2018-03-28 18:42:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3865570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Girl_chama/pseuds/Girl_chama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Slight spoilers for the end of the game.  Maybe.  Sort of.  Kind of AUish, but not really.</p>
    </blockquote>





	Through a Glass Darkly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EKthered](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EKthered/gifts).



> Slight spoilers for the end of the game. Maybe. Sort of. Kind of AUish, but not really.

Many nightmares have come and faded since the last time he saw her. Waking and walking, those horrors are truth the world tries to hide behind book covers and picture screens. Yet it’s the sight of her that is more real than anything he’s witnessed in decades.

  


She wears her hair in the fashion of the day, none of the coils and plaits he remembers from Before. It angles down to her chin in a sharp cut that does not hide the scars beneath her ear, nor the silver decanter hanging from her neck.

  


Once, only once, she glances up at him, away from her pot of tea and matching cup, takes his measure, and then returns to the electronic device she’s reading. He’s beneath her notice, and that realization, despite the pain that blossoms in his chest for it, makes him smile. How much has she changed? How little?

  


It’s when he’s had his fill of staring at her, when he sets down his borrowed morning paper (and when did they stop printing evening papers? The time gets away from him) and makes ready to depart that she pulls the headphones from her ears and scoots back from her table. He’s arrested because her movements are still wrapped with the grace he might have helped teach her; they’re still human.

  


She routes to his direction as if she might be taking a powder, but then stops in front of him, cocks her head ever so slightly to the side and asks authoritatively, “Well?”

  


Her accent is mostly the same, faded into something less English, as if someone pointed it out one too many times. The tone and expectation is the same, and he smiles in a soft way that makes her frown.

  


“Well, what?” he returns.

  


“If you’re going to spend all morning in a coffee shop staring at me, there had better be a damned good reason why.”

  


“I-” he begins, and plausible excuses fail him. History has taught him that best lies are always mixed with a bit of truth, “I was just admiring you from a distance. I apologize if I caused you any discomfort.” Even less was his intention to stay as long as he has, much less draw her attention.

  


“Very well,” she says primly, and before he can anticipate how her curious caution might damn him, she takes the seat across him. She does not lean back into the stuffed, leather chair but sits up straight, legs crossed at the ankle. Then she watches him with a perfectly expectant expression, patient in her waiting.

  


He smiles faintly, unable to help himself and leans forward to extend his hand. She looks down at it smartly, before capturing it with her smaller fingers, no hesitation in the action, nor in her grip.

  


“Isabeau,” she offers.

  


“Grayson.”

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, wondered what would happen if the Chancellor suddenly decided he needed to protect Isabeau from anymore harm, and to what lengths he would go to ensure it- including stealing her memories. But maybe after a while, a long while, Grayson needs to see her again, just to make sure she's all right. Memories or no, I don't think she would have changed that much.


End file.
